Monday, May 9

I returned home at about 5pm after spending Mother's Day with my mom in SC. I relaxed for a second, got some food, and then turned on the tv--a rarity for me. As I flipped through the channels, I stopped on PBS. I'll admit that I wasn't expecting to stay on the station long, but the program pulled me in.

I was watching a documentary called, "Who Does She Think She Is?" by Academy Award winning filmmaker Pamela Tanner Boll. It was a interesting look into the choice women make between mothering or working; their children's well-being or their own.

The documentary featured five extraordinary women artists who refused to choose and somehow balanced mothering and pursuing their passion; partnering and acting with independence.

The film follows Angela Williams through her struggle of finding balance with her family and her art in theater; Camille Musser who has been married for 30 years and painting for 20; Janice Wunderlich who is a Mormon mother of five and full-time artist; Maye Torres, a divorced mother of three boys, who lives and works almost completely off the land to makes ends meet as a working artist; and Mayumi Oda, an artist focused on goddess imagery and a cultivator who hosts "Goddess Retreats" on her ranch in Hawaii.

Everyone expects us to choose between ourselves and our family, but do we have to?

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

A former female manager of mine gave me a book called "Flux" by Peggy Orenstien that explored this topic. It's extremely unfair that we as women have to be made to feel as though we must choose between ourselves or our families. There must be a balance.